Selected career chronology
Credits Index
Major screen, stage, music, sport or broadcast work. This is a selected public-career index, not a complete employment history.
| Year | Title | Medium | Role | IMDb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Wilma | Television | Robert Eldridge | — |
| 1981 | Carbon Copy | Film | Roger Porter | — |
| 1982 | St. Elsewhere | Television | Dr. Philip Chandler | — |
| 1984 | A Soldier’s Story | Film | Melvin Peterson | — |
| 1987 | Cry Freedom | Film | — | — |
| 1988 | Checkmates | Broadway | Sylvester Williams | — |
| 1989 | Glory | Film | — | IMDb |
| 1990 | Mo’ Better Blues | Film | — | — |
| 1991 | Mississippi Masala | Film | — | — |
| 1992 | Malcolm X | Film | — | IMDb |
| 1993 | Philadelphia | Film | — | IMDb |
| 1993 | The Pelican Brief | Film | — | — |
| 1993 | Much Ado About Nothing | Film | Don Pedro | — |
| 1995 | Crimson Tide | Film | — | — |
| 1995 | Devil in a Blue Dress | Film | Easy Rawlins | — |
| 1996 | The Preacher’s Wife | Film | — | — |
| 1998 | He Got Game | Film | Jake Shuttlesworth | — |
| 1999 | The Hurricane | Film | — | — |
| 1999 | The Bone Collector | Film | Lincoln Rhyme | — |
| 2000 | Remember the Titans | Film | Herman Boone | — |
| 2001 | Training Day | Film | — | IMDb |
| 2002 | John Q | Film | John Quincy Archibald | — |
| 2002 | Antwone Fisher | Film | — | — |
| 2002 | Antwone Fisher | Film | — | — |
| 2003 | Out of Time | Film | Matt Lee Whitlock | — |
| 2004 | Man on Fire | Film | John W. Creasy | — |
| 2004 | The Manchurian Candidate | Film | — | — |
| 2005 | Julius Caesar | Broadway | Marcus Brutus | — |
| 2006 | Inside Man | Film | Keith Frazier | — |
| 2006 | Déjà Vu | Film | Doug Carlin | — |
| 2007 | American Gangster | Film | — | — |
| 2007 | The Great Debaters | Film | — | — |
| 2007 | The Great Debaters | Film | — | — |
| 2009 | The Taking of Pelham 123 | Film | Walter Garber | — |
| 2010 | The Book of Eli | Film | Eli | — |
| 2010 | Unstoppable | Film | Frank Barnes | — |
| 2010 | Fences | Broadway | Troy Maxson | — |
| 2012 | Flight | Film | — | — |
| 2014 | The Equalizer | Film | Robert McCall | — |
| 2014 | A Raisin in the Sun | Broadway | Walter Lee Younger | — |
| 2016 | Fences | Film | — | IMDb |
| 2016 | Fences | Film | — | — |
| 2016 | Fences | Film | — | — |
| 2016 | The Magnificent Seven | Film | — | — |
| 2017 | Roman J. Israel, Esq. | Film | — | — |
| 2018 | The Equalizer 2 | Film | Robert McCall | — |
| 2018 | The Iceman Cometh | Broadway | Theodore Hickman | — |
| 2020 | Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom | Film | — | — |
| 2021 | The Tragedy of Macbeth | Film | Lord Macbeth | — |
| 2021 | A Journal for Jordan | Film | — | — |
| 2023 | The Equalizer 3 | Film | Robert McCall | — |
| 2024 | Gladiator II | Film | — | — |
| 2024 | The Piano Lesson | Film | — | — |
| 2025 | Highest 2 Lowest | Film | — | IMDb |
| 2025 | Othello | Broadway | Othello | — |